Vindicate Me, O God
Good morning, Cities Church. To our fellow dads, I want to express gratitude to God for you, especially over these last few months with these household liturgies. I praise God for your initiative in leading your families in worship through such an unusual time, however imperfect it may be. Thank you for pressing into the unique demands of work and family these last few months. Happy Father’s Day. May God work a disproportionately grander impact on and through your family through your faithful fathering these months for his namesake.
It was a few years ago that I went for a mid-day jog on a treadmill at the Y. I was listening to a sermon on lament. And as I exerted my body, the Lord stirred my soul. It was a poignant moment of not just learning about lament but feeling lament. As I ran on, I lamented my own sin. I lamented sin in the world. I lamented the apparent diminishing of God’s glory because of sin.
As we face adversity in this fallen world, we lament and orient on who God is as we endure. As a society, we aren’t very good at lament. Anger, complaining, outrage, Twitter rants—those are our go-to, not lament. But in the midst of sin’s devastating impact on our lives and in society, we should learn to lament and orient on who God is as we endure. In our psalm today, the psalmist David is saying, “In my affliction, I want to be vindicated because of my devotion and the LORD’s faithfulness; that is where my confidence lies.” His hope is not ultimately in being delivered from his present experience of injustice but that his soul be secure in the redemption God provides for all who so put their trust in him.
Vindicate the Faithful (V.1-3)
The opening plea of the psalm is direct and to the point. No context is given or backstory to set the table. David just launches in, “Vindicate me, O LORD!” That rather abrupt beginning leads me to think of this psalm in the category of lament rather than a psalm facilitating the praise of God’s people. It’s as though he explodes with emotion in the face of the adversity and injustice he is experiencing.
“Vindication” clearly indicates things are not the way they are supposed to be. What David is asking, even demanding, of the Triune Sovereign of all creation is that he carry out his kingly duty of judging right and wrong, of administering justice. There is a wrong that must be righted. But that is a fearful plea—a wretched and sinful person demanding God to enact justice may very well turn on the petitioner. If it is justice we want, it may be justice that we will get. Who am I to stand before a holy God and demand justice?
But look at where David’s confidence lies. At first glance it appears that David is self-assured, “I have walked in my integrity.” But let’s not miss the parallelism that is so familiar in the psalms. A pair of phrases often serve to interpret one another, and so here David continues, “I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.” Walking in integrity looks like unwavering trust in God. When we follow after Jesus in faith, it will necessarily look like observing all that he has commanded. Integrity or moral uprightness and faithful trust go hand-in-hand. You don’t have one without the other.
And so David can call for God in V.2 to test him three times over: prove me, try me, test me. It is similar to Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” He can call for justice and God’s soul-piercing vision not because David has arrived in sinless perfection. No, he can summon such evaluation because of the character of God. It is because the LORD’s steadfast love is ever before his eyes, because David walks in the LORD’s faithfulness. David is invoking God’s covenant character. It is because David intimately knows that the Lord Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (cf. Exodus 34:6)—that is why he pleads for vindication, for justice.
Christian, in the adversity and injustice you face—whether because of the color of your skin or the badge you carry, the illness you’re battling or the financial strain you’re up against, or the gospel you profess—know that God hears your sorrows. He knows your pain; he sees you in your suffering. You can lament and voice your agony to him. He’s got broad shoulders and can bear it. Set the steadfast love of God in Christ before your eyes and walk in his faithfulness. In Christ, he has experienced the same kind of adversity, suffering, hardship, and injustice you are experiencing. And Jesus endured the greatest injustice on the cross by looking to the joy that lay ahead of him. Your ultimate vindication is guaranteed because of his faithfulness.
The Faithful Live Uprightly (V.4-11)
As the faithful plead for the Lord’s vindication, they also live uprightly. David will have nothing to do with liars or hypocrites. He hates those who do evil and wickedness. We dare not cry to God to execute justice on our behalf if we go on in persistent rebellion against him. We hear in V.4-5 an echo of Psalm 1:1—the blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers. Rather, his delight is in the Word of God. It is not befitting of those who bear the name of Christ to go on in such sin—we must be wary of who we associate with lest we try to use one evil to right another.
That is why David is quick to insist on his innocence, saying he’s washed his hands in it. Surely by now we've all seen the videos of how to thoroughly wash our hands. The gloved demonstrator uses motor oil or paint to show how insufficient a cursory wash is—you've got to get in between your fingers and the nails and the fingertips. Or think of Pilate in Matthew 27:24 washing his hands symbolically of the blood of Jesus. It’s not just David’s hands that are innocent but all of him. Furthermore, he is zealous to declare God’s praise and thanks because of all God has done. And this in conjunction with his love for the physical manifestation on earth of God's presence and glory. Today such a place is the Church, the blood-bought people of Christ. Can we share in David’s adamant rejection of those who do all kinds of evil, who are opposed to the very rule and reign of Christ in this world? Can we share in such a profound love for those in whom God’s presence dwells? Or will we give subtle or tacit approval to some kinds of evil while denouncing others? Will we say we love the Church but speak poorly of her members? The faithful live uprightly both in public and in private, on social media and in real conversations.
David returns in V.9 to his lamenting plea, having distinguished himself from those on whom he desires the Lord’s justice. As one who lives uprightly, who lives with God’s steadfast love before his eyes, who gives himself to clinging to the hope of the gospel—he pleads that he not perish like those who reject and rebel against God. “Don’t sweep my soul away with sinners.” The imagery is similar to the parable in Matthew 13 of the farmer who sows wheat in his field but weeds grow up with it. Rather than trash the whole field, he waits until the harvest. The weeds are gathered up—they are swept up—and burned.
Do you see the shift David has made here in his plea? The lamenting demand in V.1 is for vindication due to the present injustice he is experiencing. But in V.9 when he returns to his plea, the focus is shifted to eternal vindication. “Don’t sweep my soul away”—it’s not just his physical well-being that he is concerned for but his entire being. Indeed, he does not want his life numbered among bloodthirsty men. He doesn’t want his life in this world to end under the judgment of God, but he especially does not want his entire being to be gathered among the weeds and burned.
David—who did not bear the sword in vain, who as God’s servant was an avenger carrying out God’s wrath on wrongdoers (cf. Romans 13:4)—was not like sinful, bloodthirsty men. He was not like those who were “always ready to do wrong” (cf. V.10, NET) or ensure that the injustices, the wickedness done was overlooked with a little grease to the palm. We know that evil is not only done by the hands carrying it out but also by those who look the other way. No, David is not like them—not all who bear the sword are wicked. David walked in integrity. He trusted in Yahweh without wavering. He walked in God’s faithfulness.
And so he cries, “Redeem me! Be gracious to me!” He laments and orients on who God is as he endures. He knows God is true and faithful. He knows God is one who delights in the deliverance of his people. He knows God is full of grace and mercy. And yet he laments. And yet he still faces adversity and injustice. By orienting on the character of God, focusing on what he knows to be true, he gains resolve to press on. David has a both/and framework for vindication—he desires justice and deliverance in his present adversity while ultimately hoping in his future, end-time vindication. He acts to establish justice, to right wrongs, to walk in integrity, but his hope is not ultimately in those things. His hope is in a God who will establish justice hopefully in this life, but certainly or in the life to come. So also, we can cry out and pursue the vindication of injustices, but we cannot lose sight that it is all for nothing if our souls are swept away with sinners.
Church, we ought to be a people who care about injustice—and that’s all injustice, but especially the injustice of our context, where we have proximity and relationships. Do all you can to love your neighbor, but don't look ultimately to societal change, governmental overhaul, or community development efforts. The Church is the only institution that has an answer to the plea for vindication: the resurrection of Christ. We must recognize in this fallen world that all of it will always be broken by sin. But there is a day coming when all will be vindicated, when redemption will be finalized, when grace will saturate a new creation. That doesn’t make us so “heavenly-minded” we’re of no “earthly good.” That frees us from the constraints of putting all of our hope in earthly institutions and politicians who lack the power to accomplish the vindication our souls desperately desire. Redeem us and be gracious to us, O God.
The Faithful Rest Secure (V.12)
The psalm concludes with a statement of assurance. The Faithful plea for vindication, live uprightly, and rest secure. I don’t think this means that immediate vindication happened for David in the setting he writes in. About a year ago my wife and I hiked the Upper Yosemite Falls—it was grueling for novices like us. However, the descent was unexpectedly challenging. It was much easier to select your next step as you went up. Going down, the fatigue and momentum made loose gravel, a damp rock, or subtle root quite dangerous. Until we got to level ground. That’s where David is. He’s directed his lament up to the LORD, and he’s come back down back into his adversity. Yet now his foot stands on level ground.
He’s lamented and oriented on the person and character of God. And now he is steadied. His legs may be weary of the journey but his foot is on a solid path. This is how we see him process his plea for vindication so that he is confident that he will stand in the great assembly to praise God. (The great assembly—remember when we used to do that?) Things will be made right. He can rest secure knowing the end result is guaranteed.
Friend, you will never know or be able to offer real, lasting security and safety like this apart from Jesus Christ. This world is plagued by sin and sorrow. Our confidence for things to ultimately be made right is greater than the confidence David had because we know Christ. His confidence was in the hopeful expectation of promises to be fulfilled. Our confidence is in that the Promised One has fulfilled all expectations, and it’s only going to get better. But until then, we learn to lament and orient on the person and character of God.